What is Scanna Pro?

1 Answer

Scanna Pro is a platform that allows anyone to create mobile web content and deliver it for anyone to view on a PC or a smartphone. There is a niche waiting to be filled, in which ordinary people provide each other with information about the world around them. The computing power provided by a smartphone, aided by its rich collection of sensors, is harnessed by our software, enabling this provision of information to be done more easily and in a more compelling way than previously offered. No specialized experience is assumed beyond an ability to think clearly and a willingness to learn.

The Scanna Pro website provides free hosting and tools for anyone to build mobile-compatible web pages without the need to understand web technology or even to have an account with a hosting service. Each page has a short URL that's ideal for pasting into a tweet or a Facebook post. Each page also has a unique barcode that can be printed and placed on display for mobile phone users to scan and view that page.

The Scanna Pro app takes this a step further. As well as being a platform to scan barcodes and display the pages they represent, it also handles GPS location and Bluetooth beacon detection. Out of the box the app provides its users with the means to "tag" their world, creating simple pages of information - photos and text - that will be seen by other users who encounter the same GPS location, barcode or beacon. These pages can be edited to some extent on a phone or you can go to our website and perform more extensive editing.

The final and most important part is to provide our users with the means to create programmed content to run on their own phones and on those of others. This programmed content is delivered inside the web pages described above, and it can instruct the phone to do almost anything within its capabilities. Examples of this content are games, utilities and marketing content that is highly targeted to particular users; content that learns from its interaction with those users.

The programmable content is implemented by an embedded scripting language called Easy Coder, designed to appeal to non-programmers by resembling English. The language is rich in nouns and verbs that describe high-level real-world objects, actions and events. It's easy to learn and it can be used productively by anyone from age 11 or so upwards. Scripts are written on a PC in a web browser or on the phone itself; they compile and run on the phone.

The security risks associated with running downloaded scripts are small as scripts are just plain text, leaving viruses nowhere to hide. Content downloaded in this way does not fill up scarce phone memory; it loads on demand and is deleted after use.

The Scanna Pro app can be installed on any recent Android phone. Go to our page in the Play Store.